When I Had the Chance
by RizReviewer
Summary: My pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways caused a good strong woman like you to walk out my life. One-Shot Songfic. Set during the episode A Tigress Tale. Minor spoilers for the show. Full Summary inside.


**A/N: Hi everyone! So I was watching A Tigress Tale the other day and so many stories just ran through my head regarding how everyone felt about Tigress leaving. If you watch the episode then listen to the song, you'll see how great they go together. Oh, the song is When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars by the way. **

**Summary of the episode in case you haven't seen it. When ****Master Mugan from the Garnet Palace decides she needs a new Kung Fu Master, Tigress volunteers, ****because she fills like the she has lost her place at the Jade Palace and that the other Master's no longer take Kung Fu seriously. This takes place right after she has announced her decision.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own DreamWorks, Kung Fu Panda, or the song**

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"I don't belong here anymore."

Those words rang through the panda's mind as he watched Tigress walk towards the barracks to pack her things.

His bright emerald eyes, usually sparkling with such joy now dulled with pain and guilt. Why hadn't he realized before how out of place Tigress felt when he messed around and played.

Unlike the rest of the five, all Tigress had in life was kung fu! She was adopted by Shifu because of her potential. All she did was eat, sleep, train and meditate. Once Po came along, he reminded everyone that there was more to life.

Po, Monkey and Mantis all had their jokes and tricks. Viper had her dancing and Crane loved art. But what did Tigress have? She was never given the time to enjoy a hobby, to live life outside of kung fu and training.

_I should have bought you flowers  
And held your hand  
Should have gave you all my hours  
When I had the chance_

Po hadn't realized it, but when he came to the Jade Palace, his antics and jokes were striping Tigress of all she had. He disrupted her meditation constantly. As the Dragon Warrior, he became the leader of the Furious Five.

Po constantly was telling the tiger warrior to take a break and easy up on the training without realizing that was her way of expressing herself and venting out emotions. She certainly never talked to anyone because there was never anyone around to talk to when she needed it the most.

Tears brimmed in Po's eyes as he thought about all of the times he dragged Tigress into his messes only to slack off when it was time to train or meditate. The rest of the five were beginning to pick up on his laid back attitude. No wonder the disciplined master felt like she no longer belonged. Her home had changed, and Po was the reason for it.

_Take you to every party  
Cause all you wanted to do was dance  
Now my baby's dancing  
But she's dancing with another man_

If there was one thing Tigress loved most, it was training. Unless Shifu forbid it, she would be in the training hall every day, pushing herself to the limit.

The way she would leap up gracefully before spinning and kicking in an intricate routine always reminded Po of a dance. The tiger style of kung fu was one of aggressiveness and power, yet Tigress always managed to keep focus in every punch, precision in every attack, always striving for perfection in everything she did.

Of course the warrior took Master Mugan up on her offer. The only life she knew was one filled with discipline and training. Shifu and the Jade Palace no longer offered that to Mugan and the Garnet Palace did.

_My pride, my ego, my needs, and my selfish ways_  
_Caused a good strong woman like you to walk out my life_

Po regretted every time he had cracked a joke at Tigress's expense. He flinched at how many times he showed her up in the little training he did do, or brushed off her attempts to talk with him so he could cater to his adoring fan club.

It never crossed his mind how much it would hurt to spend your entire life dedicated to something, for you to spend every waking moment perfecting your craft only to watch a newcomer with practically no training, rise to the top. All the blood sweat and tears, was for naught.

"Didn't Tigress say she trained on ironwood trees for twenty years?" Po thought bitterly And yet, for all her work, she could still be bested by a panda who had barely been there a year. That has got to be frustrating, it makes sense that she would look for a better master, one who could promise her the pinnacle of perfection that she craved for.

And now she was leaving. It disturbed Po how easily she could leave. No one tried to stop her as her head disappeared down the steps after Mistress Mugan. She never looked back.

_Now I never, never get to clean up the mess I made,  
And it haunts me every time I close my eyes_

Tigress was no longer a Master of the Jade Palace. Po would never get the chance to apologize for his mistakes, to make up for every time he got in her way. He would never get to hear her shout his name in irritation.

It bothered him that he didn't hear her shouts in the nearby training hall that night. It wasn't uncommon that long after everyone had gone to bed, the nocturnal feline would continue her relentless training. It was comforting in an odd way for the panda.

_It all just sounds like oooooh…_

Tonight, it was silent, there were no yells, no clanging of metal and machines, only a thick blanket of silence that suffocated the guilt ridden panda.

_Mmm, too young, too dumb to realize  
That I should have bought you flowers  
And held your hand  
Should have gave you all my hours  
When I had the chance  
_

Po had snuck action figures of him and the five into Tigress's bag before she left. He wasn't sure why he had done it. "So you never forget us?" Po thought dejectedl. "How can I get anymore lame?" It wasn't what he wanted to say.

He wanted to tell Tigress not to leave him, to show the feline how much she meant to the ever adoring panda. He was to afraid to admit it, even to Viper, but his "crush" went way beyond a fanboy obsession. The big fluffy panda could genuinely say that he loved Tigress.

_Although it hurts  
I'll be the first to say that I was wrong_

Po sighed; it had been three days since Tigress had left the Jade palace. It wasn't the same without her yelling at them to get back to training or rolling her eyes at his antics.

"The same antics," Po thought, "that drove her away."

He remembered how she always complained about his lack of discipline, even when it came to cleaning his room. He had cleaned it yesterday to prove to himself he could change.

"I will change." Po thought desperately. He would train all the time and quit acting so goofy. He would become stronger, better, smarter, anything if it meant he could prove that she belonged at the Jade Palace. That she belonged with him.

_Oh, I know I'm probably much too late  
To try and apologize for my mistakes_

It was too late to apologize for pushing her away. He had been too caught up in his new life to realize how rapidly he was changing hers. But maybe, just maybe, he could find her and tell her he now understood the message she was trying to relay in every scolding and argument.

Po was going to find her. If he never did another thing in life, he wanted to tell Tigress _  
_

_But I just want you to know_

He was sorry.

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**A/N: There you have it! I hope you all enjoyed the story. I Hope Po didn't seem too OOC. Please review, and let me know if you liked it! **


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